


Believe In Me

by GrahamCrackuhz



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, GFY, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-08-13 23:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7990459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrahamCrackuhz/pseuds/GrahamCrackuhz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert have a long history together. But what was that history? Back when Erin was just known as Ghost Girl to everyone, she meets the first person to ever listen to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When We Met

Junior year. Erin was seventeen and almost free of her peers’ tortures. Ever since she was ten, when the kids at her school had found out she was in therapy, they’d called her Ghost Girl. They knew she claimed she’d seen a ghost, but no one believed her. Not her parents, not her therapist, none of the kids at school, no one. She’d once been close with a girl in her class, but ever since Erin had been called Ghost Girl, she’d stopped talking to Erin. 

Erin’s alarm continued to blare away, indicating it was 6am and time to get ready for yet another year of miserable hell. Erin stared at the alarm for a moment, contemplating whether or not the alarm would just turn off on its own if she pretended to be asleep. Maybe this year could just happen without her ever waking up. 

After 10 minutes of the alarm going off, Erin’s mother poked her head in the door, ruining the fantasy. “Erin, darling, if you don’t turn that thing off and get up, I will put you on that bus in your pajamas,” she said sternly, before closing the door to her room behind her. Erin groaned, finally hit her alarm off, and pulled herself out of bed. Even though it was an empty threat, she knew she had to get up. She poked through her clothes in her closet before deciding on a pencil skirt and a freshly ironed white button up shirt. As she pulled on her clothes, she spotted her new black buckle up shoes she’d gotten over the holidays and decided to complete the outfit with those rather than the kitten heels she’d broken in last semester.

Erin had given up on getting cute, new stationary every year when she no longer had people to show it off to. Her several year-old bag was still pretty sturdy, despite the stitching beginning to fray in the straps. She stuffed in a handful of notebooks that she hadn’t finished up last year, and her worn out pencil case. She’d decided that if her belongings could make it to the end of high school without breaking, then she could too. The only things she’d replace were notebooks when they reached maximum capacity of writing. 

Downstairs, her mother had set out pancakes for breakfast and a glass of orange juice. Her solid plastic lunch box sat on the counter waiting for her. There was a huge crack down one side from when Chad, the quarterback senior, had shoved her into a locker as he’d past her one day the previous year. She put it in her bag, along with the water bottle her mother had left in the refrigerator. 

As Erin chewed away at her breakfast, her mom breezing past getting ready for work, she glanced around the tiny dining room. Her dad was an accountant, and her mother worked as a receptionist at the local dentist. The time on the clock ticked away, counting down to when she’d have to face her bullies. When she finished eating, she washed her dishes and put them away before shrugging on her backpack and heading out the door in time for the bus to pull up. 

Her stop was the last one before the high school. She hated bussing as it meant sitting next to someone who’d mock her, or spill something on her intentionally before they even made it up the drive to the school. As she stepped on board, the other students were already shouting at each other about their holidays and being overall rowdy. All the seats seemed to be taken as she walked down the aisle towards the back; towards Chad and his buddies in the back row. The only spare seat happened to be next to a girl she didn’t recognize. Living in the small town she did, she unfortunately knew everyone, and everyone knew her. She dropped into the seat next to the girl and inspected her nails, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone. The girl next to her was slightly bigger than the rest of the girls at her school. She was wearing jeans, a button up shirt under a black knitted vest, and black converse. Her hair was pulled back into a high pony tail, and large, round-framed glasses sat on her nose, successfully obscuring most of her face. 

Erin didn’t want to admit it, but the new girl was almost like hope to her. She remembered a few years back when one of the less popular girls had started to gain weight for whatever reason, and she had been bullied back down to the average size of the rest of the student body. The only other thing Erin took note of, was how her heart had begun to race when she took a glimpse of the new girl. 

As Erin was pulling her thoughts together, she hadn’t noticed Chad walking up the aisle towards her.  
“Hey Ghost Girl, how was your summer?” he teased, pushing the kid out of the seat opposite her.  
“What do you want Chad?” Erin tried to sound tough, like she didn’t care, but he’d caught her off guard and her voice hitched in her throat.  
“Who’s your new friend?” He nodded towards the girl next to her, who had been watching the whole interaction.  
“Abby. Abby Yates,” She introduced, sticking out her hand to Chad. He stared at it long enough for her to take it back, the smile on her face faltering for a second.  
“No fatties in the school,” He spat out before heading back to the end of the bus.

Abby shifted awkwardly in her seat and stared out the window, as Erin took up the opportunity to get a better look at her. She saw the same hurt that Erin had felt for the past 7 years of her life in Abby’s eyes. Tears had begun to well up at the corner of Abby’s eyes, before she sniffed and ran the back of her hand over them, wiping them away.  
“I’m Erin,” she whispered to Abby, who turned back to face her. “And you’re not fat.”  
Abby stared at her as the bus pulled up to the school.  
“Whatever, Ghost Girl,” Abby choked out as she joined the rest of the kids leaving the bus, stepping over Erin’s legs.


	2. When We Became Friends

Erin sank into her seat as the rest of the kids filed off the bus. The first person she’d had a chance at befriending in years, ruined in a moment. She slung her bag over her shoulder, and followed the rest of the kids off the bus.

“Looks like your new best friend isn’t so interested in you,” Chad fell into step beside Erin as she walked into the school.  
“Shut up, Chad. She isn’t my friend,” Erin forced out, heading directly for her locker.  
“Clearly. Must’ve met someone decent in the school before you could get to her,” he laughed as his friends grouped around him, and moved him towards his class.  
“Jerk,” Erin muttered under her breath as she pulled her pencil case and a few notebooks from her bag, and stuffing the rest of it into her locker.

*

Erin settled into her seat in the middle of the back of her classroom. First up in her day of torture was math. Slowly, students began taking their seats around her. Even though it was their first day back, there was some unwritten rule of seating location. Erin was back and centre, and everyone else actively avoided sitting near her until there were no other seats left. Since there’d always been an odd number of students in all her classes, the seat next to her remained free.

The final bell rang as their teacher, Mr. Daniels, entered the classroom, looking like he wanted to be there about as much as the students did. Slowly, he set his things on his desk and took a long drag from his coffee mug.  
“Morning, students,” He finally said to the class. “Today we’ll be starting to look at functions and limits. This is mostly new stuff, but some of the ideas should be relatively familiar to you. So to start off, we’ll recap some ideas that are necessary to this topic.”

As he began explaining the things supposedly covered last year (and subsequently forgotten over the Summer), the principal showed up at the door with Abby in tow. He interrupted Mr Daniels with a knock stern enough to make him jump.  
“Sorry for the interruption Mr Daniels, but we have a new student this year. This is Abigail Yates. I’m sure she’ll fit in well in your class,” he announced, gently pushing her into the classroom before he turned to head back to the office.  
“Ah yes. Uh why don’t you tell us a little about yourself, then you can take the seat at the back there next to Erin. She’ll be a great help at making sure you get around the school,” Mr. Daniels muttered as he pointed vaguely in Erin’s direction with one hand and rubbed at his face with the other.

“Hi, I’m Abby. I transferred here from Ohio. I’m an honours student, and I like science and maths,” she introduced, before slowly walking down the aisle towards the desk. Mr. Daniels sat at his desk as Abby spoke, draining the rest of his coffee, and glanced at the clock on the wall. Erin shifted her things to make room for Abby next to her, and so Abby wouldn’t have to accidentally make any physical contact with her. She knew what the other kids would do if that happened. Two years ago one of the more popular girls had bumped into her, and the other kids made fun of her so much, her family moved out of town. No one had heard from her since.

Erin tried to keep her head looking between the board, and her notebook as she took down notes. It was hard not to glance sideways at the new girl, but she somehow managed it for the entire class. When the bell rang, Mr. Daniels let out a sigh of relief, quickly scribbling up the homework for the night, then dropped himself into his chair. He was only in his 30’s, but was so over teaching already.

“Uh, Erin? Is it?” Erin sat up straight, and slowly turned her head towards Abby. She’d hoped to just bolt out of class like she normally did, and try and get to her next one without running into Chad.  
“Yeah?” she asked hesitantly.  
“Where’s room 142?” Abby asked, as though she weren’t talking to the most hated girl in school. The question threw Erin off guard and she paused for a second to process what she was asking.  
“Uh, its across the other side of the school. Physics with Mrs. O’Brien?” Erin tried to sound calmer than she felt.  
“Yeah, are you heading there?” Abby asked innocently, clearly not making a connection between what she’d said on the bus and who she was currently talking to.  
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t walk with me. Maybe like follow behind, or something? Even just talking to me is social suicide in this school, let alone walking with me,” Erin felt her cheeks burning up as she picked up her things and began heading for the door.  
“But that guy Chad talks to you a lot,” Abby countered, disproving Erin’s theory.  
“Yeah, to mock me further about my existence,” Erin muttered under her breath.

Abby followed close behind Erin as she weaved through the crowds with her head tucked down. Erin was in two minds about this new girl. At first she was happy to have someone talking to her like a person without some ulterior motive. The previous year, one of the cute boys on the soccer team, Jeremy, had talked to her all day every chance he could. He caught her after school heading to her bus and asked her out on a date in front of the whole school. Of course she’d said yes. A cute boy paying attention to her? She’d barely had anyone pay attention to her in years.  
“Alright. See you at Moe’s Diner, 5pm Friday. You pick a booth,” He’d winked at her as he turned away to re-join his buddies, and she sat on the bus with a sense of belonging she hadn’t felt before.

When she’d showed up at the diner that Friday, she’d waited and waited for him to join her. After about an hour, she realised what had happened. Rather than doing the awkward walk of shame, she flipped through the menu at the table, and ordered. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d eaten out alone. An hour later as she was finishing up her meal, the soccer team came in with the cheerleaders in tow, Jeremy front and centre.  
“Oh shit, she actually showed up,” Some of them whispered to each other, as Erin got up to leave. They all snickered at her as she’d walked past them all out the door. That day she decided she wasn’t going to fall for people treating her like a person again. At least not anyone at the school.

Abby showed Erin her timetable once they’d sat down for their second class, and they were in all the same classes. Despite Erin’s warning, Abby kept up a conversation with her, and started walking closer and closer to her between classes. At lunch time, she didn’t even hesitate to sit with her. Erin wasn’t used to this, and kept having to tell herself that there wasn’t necessarily an ulterior motive behind Abby’s kindness.

“I’m sorry for what I said on the bus this morning. I feel bad, because you seem really nice, and… I don’t really know what that nickname’s about,” Abby said softly to Erin on the bus home.  
“It’s okay. I’m used to everyone calling me that, so it was more confusing when you were nice to me afterwards,” Erin managed, after processing what Abby had just said to her.  
“Well, I’m sorry, and I hope we can be friends,” Abby gave her a hopeful smile, sticking out her hand to Erin.  
“You’ll regret it,” Erin returned her smile, shaking Abby’s hand.


	3. When We First Fell Out

Over the next few weeks, Abby and Erin got closer. For the first time in years, Erin felt like she truly mattered to someone again. She was still guarded and hesitant about telling Abby absolutely anything and everything, but she felt herself slowly opening up. Abby never bothered to try making friends with other people. She took the taunts and comments with a grain of salt, and never looked anywhere but at Erin.

The way people teased Erin changed. What used to be yells of “GHOST GIRL” in the halls, swiftly changed to “LESBIANS” to both of them. As much as Erin hated being yelled at and being bullied, she felt somewhat less bothered by it when Abby was around. It only became a problem when teachers started hearing it.

One day after maths class, Abby had left early to stop by her locker before their next class, and Mr. Daniels had kept Erin back as she passed his desk.  
“Hold up there, Erin. We need to have a quick chat before next class,” he said, as he watched the rest of the class file out, then indicated to the nearest chair for her to sit in. Begrudgingly she took the seat, and watched the kids leaving too.

Mr Daniels shut the door behind the last student, before leaning against his desk.  
“I’ve been hearing around school that you and the new girl have gotten into a relationship with each other,” he started awkwardly, before picking up his coffee mug and becoming visibly disappointed to find it empty. Erin looked back at him in confusion.  
“Where have you heard that?” she asked back, before the bullying came to mind.  
“The other students. The other teachers and I are… concerned. It’s… not healthy… to… to like girls – if you’re a girl. There are plenty of boys in this school for you to choose from,” he continued, about as awkwardly as he’d begun.  
“Oh! We’re not together. We’re just friends. And you of all people should know that these students will do anything to make fun of me. I promise nothing is going on here that shouldn’t be,” Erin countered firmly. She was happy to have a friend who cared about her, let alone thinking of dating her. Her parents were Christian after all.  
“Alright. Keep it that way,” Mr Daniels concluded, waving towards the door.

Erin reeled over the conversation she’d just had as she rushed to class. She knew the kids were just poking fun at the idea of her actually having a friend, but it felt quite worrisome if the teachers were starting to believe it. She slipped into class right as the bell rang, with a disapproving look from Mrs. O’Brien. Abby gave her a warm smile as Erin took the empty seat next to her. Erin scribbled down furiously on a scrap of paper what had just happened as Mrs. O’Brien began talking about thermodynamics.

_The teachers think we’re lesbians because they keep hearing the other kids making fun of us. I’ve never had teachers care about me being teased before._

Erin watched Abby read over the note once before scribbling her reply. She was so concerned with what Abby would say that she didn’t bother to scribble anything down that the teacher was covering.

**_Is that really a bad thing? I mean what does it matter what others think? And I really don’t think being gay is a problem. Love is love, you know?_ **

Erin read over the note several times. What did she mean being gay isn’t a problem? It’s not natural, Erin thought. God was making them ill for their choices, so in His eyes, it must be wrong.

_If being gay wasn’t an issue, then why are they all getting sick? Its not Christian or natural for girls to date girls or boys to date boys._

Abby read the note over quickly before raising an eyebrow at Erin. Clearly she’d written something that had surprised her. She didn’t write back to Erin until the very end of class. As she stood up to leave, she dropped the note on Erin’s things before leaving the class without waiting.

**_Never suspected you were one of those neo-nazis called ‘Christians’. ~~Kind of~~ Disappointed really. I have a cousin who’s gay. He’s one of the greatest people in my LIFE. Maybe you should open up your mind some before talking to me again._ **

Erin read the note and felt a pit growing at the bottom of her stomach. She’d just lost her only friend in years over something that felt so small. How could her religion affect whether or not she could be friends with Abby? She packed up her things and slowly dragged herself out of the class.

It was the end of the day, so she was probably not going to run into Abby again. Abby had told her that she was getting a ride home from her mom because she wanted to take Abby out shopping. Erin felt tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes as she pushed her things into her locker, and pulled out her bag. She shuffled through the notebooks in her locker for the ones she had work to do for over the weekend. As miserable as she felt, she knew she needed to get back on top of her schoolwork since it had begun slipping after she met Abby.

Erin felt numb to Chad’s comments on the bus ride home. He mocked her for her lack of ‘girlfriend’ next to her, and got annoyed when she didn’t respond. She had zoned out and was thinking of what Abby had said to her. She felt the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes again, and that uncomfortable pit at the bottom of her stomach came back. Erin bit her lower lip to hold back the tears as the bus finally stopped and she went home.

Once inside, she raced up the stairs to her room. The door slammed behind her as she flopped face down on her bed and let the tears finally flow out. Everything she’d been holding in since the end of her last class came out, and she let herself feel the disappointment and heartbreak from losing her only friend. She didn’t want to lose Abby, but she wasn’t willing to give up on her religious roots either.


	4. When We Were Apart

Erin spent the weekend reading through her Bible, trying to find parts that pointed out where being gay was wrong. She’d never done that before, but wanted to point out to Abby where she was wrong, and hopefully educate her. As she was reading, she didn’t find anything in the Bible that mentioned homosexuality, except for Leviticus, which said it was wrong. Erin wrote out the parts from Leviticus, ignoring the fact that she’d been told numerous times that that part of the Bible was ignored.

When Monday finally rolled around, Erin jumped out of bed before her alarm and started getting ready. As she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, she yelled out a goodbye as she heard one of her parents rushing out the door. Her heart began to rush the sooner she got to her bus showing up, and a lump formed in her throat. She ended up making oatmeal as it was the only thing she could swallow without wanting to throw back up. 

As the bus announced its arrival, she double checked that she had the slip of paper she’d worked hard to write up over the weekend tucked into her bag. She locked the door behind her before she raced up the walkway. After getting on the bus, she looked up the aisle and saw her usual seat empty. Abby was nowhere to be found on the bus, and Erin’s stomach dropped. She shuffled into her seat and stared out the window, trying to hold back the tears.

When the bus pulled up at the school, Erin trudged off the bus, and shuffled to her locker, feeling sorry for herself. Chad tried yelling something at her as she entered the building, but she’d tuned everything of the outside world out. She walked straight past him, towards her locker. He’d gotten used to her ignoring him while she was around Abby, but he figured he’d try again while she was alone. He didn’t bother following her, as he knew he had no affect on her. 

Glumly, Erin took things out of bag for class before putting the bag into her locker. Still fighting back tears she slid into her seat in the class, and rested her chin on her hands against the desk. She still held out hope as she waited for the class to start, trying to be subtle as she looked at the door. Just before the bell rang, she came in and took the seat next to Erin as per usual. Erin felt her heart jump as Mr. Daniels began the class. 

Abby stayed focused on what Mr. Daniels was teaching for the entire class. Erin kept glancing at her to see if she could slide the note she’d worked on over to her, but didn’t want to distract her from her learning; she’d already done enough of that since the start of the semester. When the bell rang, Abby picked up her things as quickly as possible, and left the classroom without so much as a glance in Erin’s direction. Erin stared after her in confusion. How was she supposed to get Abby to talk to her again if Abby wouldn’t even give her the chance?

“Broke up already, huh?” Chad teased from the seat next to her.   
“We weren’t together,” Erin countered, picking up her things and heading for the door.  
“What’d you do to her? Tell her you couldn’t be with her? Because of your family’s Christian values?” he snorted, falling into step with her.   
“What do you want Chad?” Erin stopped, turning to face him.  
“I dunno. You looked sad. Sometimes you used to laugh at my bad jabs at you. I’m sure you two will fix things,” Chad said throwing her off guard. Since when had he ever been nice to her?  
“What? Did you get replaced by a robot? You? Being nice? To me?” she countered.  
“Hey, I can be nice! Plus, teasing you has no affect on you anymore. She made you immune to it,” he scoffed, before giving her a half smirk and heading down the hall. 

Erin took a deep breath before walking into her next class. Abby was already in her seat, leaning over the aisle to talk with the girls on the other side. They were deep in conversation, giggling to each other before one spotted Erin. Abby slid back normally into her seat and glanced towards Erin. Erin sunk into her seat, not wanting to make eye contact with her. As she stared down at her hands waiting for class to start, she heard giggling from her left. She spared a quick glance at them, and Abby had leaned over to giggle with the girls again. Clearly Abby had found better friends than Erin could ever be. 

All through class, Abby passed notes back and forth between the girls. Erin fought back tears while trying to scribble down notes as Mrs. O’Brien droned on. For a short week she had felt like a normal person who had someone that cared for her, but it had all ended over something stupid. As horrible as she felt about herself, she was at least happy knowing that Abby was happy with other people, and that both of them weren’t existing miserably alone. 

Erin didn’t speak to anyone else that day. She floated between her classes glumly, and sat outside alone for lunch. She couldn’t stomach the idea of eating anything, so she just watched as people passed by, and cars drove around. She’d brought the note she’d written for Abby outside with her. Through teary eyes, she read over the words she’d written. None of them made sense to her anymore. The more she read, the more she thought about what it would be like to date a girl. There was no denying that Abby was attractive, and that she had cared for Erin. Ever since the Ghost Girl thing had started, Erin had entirely written off the idea of dating. She didn’t have the normal crushes on people, since the people around her all hated her. She wasn’t entirely sure of how she felt about Abby. They’d known each other a week, but Erin knew she missed Abby’s company.


	5. When We Made Up

The next morning, Erin hurried through her routine and raced out to the bus. When she got on, she immediately noticed Abby was absent. She let out a sigh, and slid into her seat. After she got off at school, she noticed Abby standing near a car, leaning in to talk to the driver. Of course Abby would’ve asked to be driven to school. No one got to sit wherever they wanted to on the bus.

 

Erin walked slowly towards Abby, clutching a textbook close to her chest. As she got closer, she began to overhear what was being exchanged.

“I don’t know for how much longer, okay? I don’t know,” Abby said sternly.   
“Well I can’t keep dropping you off every morning. My boss is already annoyed that I keep coming in late. Do you want us to move again? I need this job, Abby! Sort things out, please,” Erin was close enough to see a woman at the wheel who resembled Abby quite closely.

“I know, mom. I’ll see you after school?” Abby asked meekly.

“See you after school,” her mom replied, sounding resigned.

 

As the car drove off, Abby watched with dismay.

“Abby?” Erin asked softly, reaching out for Abby’s arm.  She turned to stare wide eyed at Erin. “Why are you avoiding me?”

“I told you why on Friday,” Abby replied, turning to head into the school.

“Abby wait. You’re the only friend I’ve had in years, I’m not going to give you up that easily. I know you don’t like that I’m a Christian, I get that, but why does that have to affect our friendship? I’m sorry for how I reacted to you talking about gay people. You’re right. There isn’t anything wrong with them. I went through the whole Bible this weekend to try and prove you wrong and couldn’t. Then I began to think, maybe, just maybe, you’re right. I don’t want to lose you over this, Abby,” Erin was on the verge of tears as she held Abby back.

“I’m sorry too, Erin. I shouldn’t have let this come between us. Your beliefs don’t completely change who you are as a person. I mean it does affect how you view some things, but you have kinda just proven to me that you’re willing to change. I don’t want to lose you over this either,” Abby whispered, pulling Erin into a tight hug. Erin wrapped her arms around Abby, and let a few tears come out.  
“It’s okay. Friends?” Erin replied, squeezing Abby tighter.  
“Too tight. God, what are your arms made of? Steel?” Abby squealed, trying to detach Erin from her waist.

 

The girls linked arms and giggled to each other on their way into the school. Erin felt relieved that she hadn’t lost her only friend. She’d felt so alone the day before, and didn’t want to feel that again. Abby seemed content having Erin back at her side. Clearly the other girls she’d been getting to know weren’t her cup of tea.

“Who were those girls I kept seeing you with yesterday?” Erin asked as they stopped at her locker.

“Oh, that was Ashley and Georgina. They’re my moms boss’ daughter and niece. Mom wanted me to get to know them and be friends with them. I guess she noticed I didn’t have the best weekend,” Abby confessed, looking down at her shoes.

“I didn’t really have the best weekend either. I thought my best friend hated me,” Erin answered, giving a sideways smile to Abby.

“Oh I could never hate you,” Abby replied, returning her smile.

 

During their classes, the girls passed notes between each other like they had during their first week together. They held back giggles at each others comments.

 

_Does Mr. Daniels need an IV drip for coffee? I feel like he’s got nothing else running through his veins._

**_He probably has one set up at home to help him relax after a day of dealing with students._ **

****

_How does someone get to 30 and hate teaching already? He’s barely got 5 years of experience teaching. Even Mrs. O’Brien has more patience._

**_Maybe he had a traumatic experience with a student at some point and now all he has left is coffee to make it through the day._ **

****

_Maybe a student killed his whole family for failing them._

**_Maybe the students egged his car once._ **

****

_Maybe a group of students banded together and got him a pet llama, but he never wanted one, so now he has a llama to deal with at home._

As class wore on, they found it harder and harder to keep it together. Their suggestions got weirder and weirder. Eventually Erin stopped answering, because they had started attracting the attention of their classmates from their giggling, and didn’t want Mr. Daniels to make them read out the notes they’d been passing between each other.

 

After class, they left arm in arm yet again, and slowly walked towards their next class.  
“Do you think there’s a reason he’s already over teaching so soon? Or do you think he never wanted to be a teacher in the first place?” Abby asked.  
“I bet a group of kids did something, and that he’s seen horror,” Erin replied.  
“Or maybe your teacher has a newborn at home and doesn’t get to sleep,” A deep, tired voice came from behind them. They turned around to see Mr. Daniels walking behind them towards the staff room.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Mr. Daniels. We didn’t mean to pry,” Abby stammered, her cheeks turning pink.

“Don’t stress. You two are the last students that could start a rumor about my home life anyway. And trust me, I’d quit if I got sick of teaching,” He chuckled, leaving the girls in their embarrassment.

 

At the end of the day, Erin walked with Abby to her mom’s car.

“You don’t have to walk with me, you’ll miss your bus,” Abby protested, but Erin kept following.

“It’s not a big deal. I can walk home from here,” Erin replied. Once they reached the car, Erin waited for Abby to get in. Abby hesitated before turning to face Erin.

“Did you want to come over for a sleepover? Like not tonight, but sometime this week,” Abby asked, feeling her heart pounding against her rib cage.

“Yeah. I’d like that,” Erin replied, trying to hide her smile. Abby opened up the passenger side door, and poked her head into the car.

“Mom, could we give Erin a ride home?” She asked, trying to not let Erin hear what she was asking.  
“Yeah sure,” she replied, starting the car up again.

“Hop in, Erin. We’ll take you home since you missed the bus,” Abby smiled, and gestured towards the car door.

“Alright,” Erin replied, and slipped into the back seat.


	6. When We Made Plans

Erin and Abby had decided on Friday night for their sleepover and for the next two days Erin could think of nothing else. She’d never been invited to one before. While most kids had started having them before they were ten, Erin still hadn’t been invited then. She hadn’t gotten close enough to anyone before. By their age, sleepovers only really happened when the kids their age went out to parties and needed a place to crash rather than going home drunk.

 

Thursday night, Erin spent hours going through her belongings trying to figure out what someone took to a sleepover. It wasn’t like she had any siblings to ask for advice or other friends. She had figured out that she was at least going to need pajamas and a change of clothes, her toothbrush and deodorant, but beyond that she was at a loss. Would she need to bring her own towel? Would she need her own shampoo? Was she required to bring a gift for Abby’s parents? A potluck? Rather than continuing to struggle, Erin trudged downstairs to first ask her mom, before calling Abby.

 

“Hey mom?” Erin called out as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“In here honey!” she called back from the living room. Erin walked in and plopped herself down next to her mom who was knitting while watching some soap on TV.

“What do you take to a sleepover?” she asked after a few minutes of getting absorbed into the terrible drama on the screen.

“What? Oh right, you’ve never actually been to one,” she answered, confusion passing over her face. She clicked off the TV and set down her knitting before getting up. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

 

Erin followed her mom back up the stairs to her room. On her bed she had laid out a clean set of pajamas she wasn’t planning on wearing that night, and an outfit for Saturday.

“I know I’ll need my toothbrush and deodorant but can’t really pack those now,” she started as her mom picked up her clothing.

“Alright. Pajamas are good,” she said as she placed them at the bottom of the bag Erin had left open on her bed. “Are these the clothes you want to wear on Saturday? I assume you’d both be having a lazy day until you come home.”

“Well yeah, that’s what I usually wear,” Erin replied defensively.

“Let’s pick something else,” her mom replied putting the clothes back in her drawers.

 

Over the next hour, Erin’s mom helped her pick out a comfortable outfit for Saturday, and things she would want to have with her for the night. It wasn’t nearly as much as Erin thought she’d need. Somehow her brain thought she was going to require her entire bedroom packed away into a tiny little bag. What she ended up having packed away in her bag was her pajamas, a comfy top and sweatpants, a change of underwear, her toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, hair ties, and her stuffed owl. Erin’s mom still suggested she call Abby if she was concerned about showering, but assured her it was very unlikely she’d be forced to shower if she wasn’t comfortable.

 

Erin couldn’t sleep that night. When she got up the next morning, she was giddy to see Abby. She excitedly finished packing both her usual schoolbag, and her overnight bag. For breakfast she managed to scarf down some toast before her bus showed up.

 

On the bus, Erin and Abby talked excitedly about their upcoming sleepover.

“So I’ve talked to mom, and she said we can use the TV upstairs in the rec room. I’ve set up sleeping bags already in there so we can just hang out in there all night. We also picked up snacks too. Popcorn, chips, soda, chocolate, other candies. I hope that’s okay. Mom’s going to make her famous lasagna for dinner for us. It’s really good, I swear,” Abby gushed, her words flowing together.

 “I love lasagna! My mom doesn’t make it anymore. Say’s it’s not good for us. It’s usually a lot of veggies in my house,” Erin replied excitedly.

“So for movies, I’ve set out all of my favorite scary movies that mom will let me watch. You can pick what we watch though since I’ve already seen them all a hundred times.”

“Ooooh do you have A Nightmare on Elm Street?”

“Obviously! We can start with that one if you like.”

 

When they got to school, Abby followed Erin to her locker to drop off her overnight bag and grab out her notebooks. Afterwards, Erin followed Abby to her locker; both girls giggling and chatting the whole way. As they settled into class, their chatting switched from talking to notes.

 

_I’ve never actually been to a sleepover before._

**_How on earth have you survived this long without going to a sleepover?!_ **

****

_Well I was 10 when everyone stopped talking to me as a person, and I didn’t really have any friends before that that were close enough to invite me to their house._

**_I find that incredibly hard to believe that no one would’ve wanted baby Erin in their house._ **

****

_Well where were you when I was 10?_

**_Probably switching schools for the umpteenth time._ **

****

_Well I’m glad you’re hosting my first ever sleepover. You seem to have experience._

**_I sure as heck don’t have experience. I just watch a lot of TV._ **

****

_How does watching TV give you experience at sleepovers? And I find it hard to believe you never w ~~a~~ ent to any sleepovers._

**_Well like a certain girl I know, I didn’t have any close friends growing up that wanted me in their house. But I’ve watched a lot of TV and movies, and this stuff seems to come up more often than you’d think._ **

By the end of the day, Abby had brought Erin’s nerves down immensely. They stopped by each others lockers on their way to the bus to drop off school things they didn’t want over the weekend, and to pick up Erin’s overnight bag. On the bus, Abby had to remind Erin she wasn’t getting off at her usual stop, and let the driver know as they got on. Since Abby had taken the empty seat next to Erin on the bus, Erin had assumed Abby lived somewhere close to her. After half an hour on the bus, and half the kids had gotten off, she started getting suspicious.

 

“Where do you live again?” Erin piped up.

“Oh not much further. I swear I’m not taking you to the middle of nowhere,” Abby chuckled as the houses started to pass by further and further apart. Eventually, they were the last few people on the bus, along with some weird kid who always seemed to have a constant runny nose. Every few minutes, they’d hear him sniffle from a few rows behind them.

“Ours is the next stop,” Abby whispered, giving a quick glance at the other kid.

“Out of curiosity, how did you end up in this seat without any knowledge of where other kids sat?” Erin asked, wondering how many kids had yelled at Abby taking their seat.

“Oh it was my first choice of seat, and fortunately for the both of us, it happened to be yours,” Abby replied, a faint smile pulling at her lips.

“That was lucky then. For both of us,” Erin replied, a smile forming on her lips too.


	7. When I Saw Your Home

“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Abby announced awkwardly as she took Erin up the drive to a fairly large farm house. There were trees lining the driveway, making way for a picturesque view of the house. It was clearly a well loved, and well lived in place. The white paint looked freshly done, and there were flowers in full bloom, close to wilting sitting in the flowerboxes under the windows.

 

“Hi sweetie!” Abby’s dad called out to the girls from the garden off to the side of the house. Abby waved back before he got up and wiped his dirt-covered gloves on the dirty apron tied around his waist. He took his gloves off as he walked over to meet the girls at the front door.

“Hi daddy. This is Erin, the girl I was telling you about,” Abby gave her dad a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before gesturing to Erin.

“Hi Mr. Yates,” Erin stuck out her hand nervously towards the man. He took it and shook her hand firmly.   
“Call me Greg. It’s nice to finally meet you, Erin. Abby talks about you all the time,” he teased, leading the girls into the house. “Did either of you want a snack?”

“Ohhh! Yes please! Do we still have those cookies mom made last night?” Abby piped up, following her dad into the kitchen.

“Should do. I haven’t touched them all day, so unless your mother took the last of them to work with her,” their voices trailed off as they made it into the kitchen.

 

Erin stood in the front doorway taking in her surroundings. To her right was the staircase to the next floor, as well as a door through to probably a giant tool room. To her left was the door leading to the living room, which was left open. In front of her was a hallway leading towards what she assumed was the kitchen and dining room at the end, as well as a cupboard under the stairs. Everything indoors looked how she’d picture a nice cozy ranch or some rich dude’s log cabin. The inside walls were some kind of polished wood, the floor boards were a deeper mahogany colour, and the furniture was made from wood too. Family photos littered the walls and empty spaces on top of drawers and bookshelves. She caught a glimpse of the living room as she passed the open door. Furnishings were wooden, just like the open front hall.

 

“Are you gonna join us?” Abby poked her head through the doorway to the kitchen, staring at Erin who hadn’t budged more than a couple of inches forward into the house. Erin nodded meekly before shuffling towards Abby. “You can drop your bag by the stairs.” Erin did as she was told before she’d cleared the stairwell. As she passed a bookshelf on her left, she looked at each picture. Abby was clearly loved by her parents. There were photos from her childhood on each shelf. Pictures showing her in various sports outfits, school photos, at family events. Clearly she’d had a very loving childhood.

 

When Erin finally made it into the kitchen, Abby and her dad were sitting at the table with a plate of cookies between them. Erin took the seat to Abby’s left, and cautiously took a cookie off the plate nearest her.

“Yeah we’ve just started talking about electricity in physics. It’s as interesting as you said it was going to be,” Abby gushed to her dad in between bites of cookie.   
“I’m an electrician,” Greg explained to Erin before turning his attention back to his daughter. “That’s great sweetie! I told you you’d enjoy it. Remember, if you get stuck with anything, you can come to me. We can also keep working on that project together, and it’ll give you that practical aspect of what you’re learning.”

 

It was around 6pm when Abby’s mom made it home. Erin had sat awkwardly between Abby and her dad talking about electricity and his job for just over an hour, and she couldn’t have been more relieved when Abby’s mom walked in.

“Hi!” she’d called out as she walked in.

“We’re in the kitchen, love,” Greg called out to his wife, getting up with a groan. “time to put dinner on, I suppose.” He chuckled, while clearing away the now empty cookie plate.

“Hi sweetie. Sorry for being late. Couldn’t find the salsa for tomorrow,” Abby’s mom said as she came in and kissed Greg, handing him the brown paper bag of groceries. Greg flicked the oven onto a high heat, and began unpacking the groceries.

“Hi, Erin! It’s lovely to have you over. I hope you’ve been enjoying your stay so far. Dinner will probably be in about an hour or so since it hadn’t been put on earlier. You two can go upstairs and start a movie or something. Abby don’t forget to bring down your laundry please,” Abby’s mom exclaimed at the girls, before stepping out into the backyard. Abby got up first, and tugged on Erin’s sleeve, before motioning for them to leave. Erin got up and took a quick glance back at Abby’s mom who lit up a cigarette while staring out into the forest surrounding the house.

 

“I’m so excited you’re here,” Abby exclaimed after they’d made it to the top of the stairs, Erin dragging her bag up with her. She motioned for Erin to leave her bag in the big room opposite the top of the stairwell to the left, while she headed off to the room facing over the front of the house. Erin dropped her bag in a spacious living room with 2 air mattresses set up in front of a giant beast of a TV set. After setting down her bag, she headed towards the room she’d seen Abby duck into, taking note of the bathroom next door to the living room as she passed it.

“This is your room?” Erin exclaimed in a small voice. Abby’s room was about the size of living room she’d just put her bag in. A queen sized bed sat in the middle of the room, pushed up against the right wall from the doorway, with a canopy surrounding it. A beautiful wooden dresser stood opposite the bed. To Erin’s right was a fancy looking vanity. As she took in the tidy, and beautiful surroundings of Abby’s room, she noticed she couldn’t see Abby.

“Yep. I know it’s not much or anything, but it holds my stuff,” Abby replied a few moments later, coming out of a doorway on the other side of the vanity holding a laundry hamper.

“This entire room is bigger than my living room at home,” Erin said matter-of-factly, still looking around the room in both awe and horror.  

“Really? I thought this was kind of small for a bedroom,” Abby replied, a little embarrassed.

“Small?! My room isn’t even like half the size of this!” Erin answered, letting out a laugh. Abby relaxed a little, seeing Erin laugh.

“Alright, I’m gonna run this downstairs for mom, then we can start a movie. Did you want to go pick one in the other room while I do this?” Abby asked, gesturing towards the door.   
“Yeah sure,” Erin replied, a smile breaking out over her face as she left to go into the living room.


	8. When We Had A Sleepover

Abby had talked herself up to be a big tough girl. Erin had gone with A Nightmare on Elm Street first and had the video lined up in the slot waiting for Abby to come back up. When Abby had finally run back up the stairs, Erin gently nudged the video in, and curled up under one of the blankets Abby had laid out for them.

 

“What’d you pick?” Abby asked, working her way under the blanket Erin was under.

“What are you doing? I picked a Nightmare on Elm Street,” Erin replied, fighting for the blanket, losing miserably.

“I haven’t actually watched this one yet,” Abby replied nervously, snuggling up closer to Erin. Erin gave in, and wrapped her arm around Abby, and rested her head on her shoulder.

 

Every time there was a loud noise or the intense music picked up, Abby would jump.

“Scaredy cat,” Erin teased, giving Abby a squeeze around the waist.

“Am not,” Abby defended.

“Are too! You just jumped _again_!” Erin laughed as Abby jumped yet again.

“Alright, alright I don’t like scary movies! But they’re more fun with other people,” Abby giggled, wrapping the blanket around her face.

 

Halfway through the movie, they reached a quiet intense part of the movie when Abby’s mom called out, “Dinner’s ready!” Abby screamed at the top of her lungs and hid her face at the sound of it. As Erin laughed at her, she could hear Abby’s parent’s downstairs laughing too. She got up and hit pause as Abby composed herself and got up, looking both embarrassed and shaken. Erin tried to hold her tongue, but let out another laugh.

“Shut up,” Abby muttered, leading the way down the stairs.

 

In the dining room, the table had been set for the four of them with a salad on one side, warm homemade garlic bread on the other, and Abby’s mom was putting the lasagna in the middle.

“Take a seat, girls. Water or juice?” Abby’s dad announced as they entered into the room.

“I’ll take a water Mr. Yates,” Erin replied, still uncomfortable using his real name.

“I told you! Call me Greg,” He laughed, pulling a glass out of the cupboard.

“Orange juice for me, dad,” Abby replied, taking a seat. Erin slid into the seat opposite her; the same one she had sat in earlier that day.

 

Greg poured four drinks and brought them to the table. He set the water down in front of Erin, and an orange juice in front of the other plates. Erin felt awkward realizing she was the only one drinking water, but ignored it as Greg sat down. Abby’s mom grabbed a spatula and began cutting the lasagna into portions for everyone. She placed the first portion onto Erin’s plate, the second onto Abby’s, then Gregs, and finally hers.

“Dig in,” she said as she took her seat and took a piece of garlic bread from the plate. Abby reached for the tongs in the salad bowl and placed a huge portion on her plate. Greg grabbed some salad next, then Abby’s mom. Erin took a relatively moderate portion of salad as they began eating.

 

*         *         *

 

“That was delicious! Thank you!” Erin exclaimed as Greg and Abby’s mom cleared the table. Abby and Erin were finishing up the garlic bread left on the table as Greg started filling the sink.   
  
“Abby, could you put away the placemats and tablecloth? We’ll bring up some ice cream in a while once you’ve let your dinner settle,” Abby’s mom asked as she pulled out a tea towel from a cupboard in the kitchen. Abby popped the last piece of bread into her mouth and started folding the placemats in half.

 

When Abby was finished packing up, Erin followed her upstairs back to their movie. Freddy Krueger was on the screen about to attack, with wiggly pause lines moving about the screen.

“Are you sure you can handle the rest of this?” Erin giggled as Abby pressed play on the video player.   
  
“Yes I think I can,” she replied mock smugly as she covered herself in a sheet.

“We can watch something gentler afterwards. Bambi? Pinocchio?” Erin giggled.  
  
“First of all, how _dare_ you. Second of all –,“ Abby gave Erin a hard shove, making her fall over in a fit of giggles. “- that’s for being rude.” Abby giggled back as Erin got comfortable on her stomach.

 

They managed to finish the movie with only a few more jumps and squeals from Abby. She finished the movie peeking out from a blanket. Erin had spent most of the movie giggling at Abby that she found she’d quite enjoyed it.

“What do you want to watch now?” Abby asked, coming out from her blanket.

“You pick. Probably something not scary though because your parents probably want to go to bed soon,” Erin suggested. Abby’s mom had brought up some warm apple pie with ice cream for them near the end of the last movie. Erin picked up the bowls and got up to take them downstairs.

“Hey can you make up the popcorn?” Abby asked as she perused her movie collection.  
“Yeah sure,” Erin grabbed the bag off the ground and headed downstairs.

 

Erin managed to decipher the instructions and decode the microwave in a timely fashion after placing the bowls in the sink. As the popcorn began spinning, she went hunting for Abby’s parents. She found them sitting in the living room. Greg was reading the newspaper, and Abby’s mom was knitting. Erin realized she still didn’t know Abby’s moms name.

“Is that popcorn I smell?” Greg asked.   
  
“Yes,” Erin replied quietly, unsure if he’d noticed her or not.

“Need a bowl?” He replied with a wide smile.   
  
“Yes please,” She asked, returning his smile with a meek half smile.

“Alrighty,” He folded his paper and got up with a grunt.

“Don’t worry about those,” Greg said as he pulled out a large salad sized bowl for the popcorn, indicating to the sink.

“That was also what I was going to ask about,” Erin replied as the popcorn began to slow pops. Greg reached around her and opened the microwave before she had a chance to. He pulled out the popcorn and gave it a few good shakes to help the steam come out.

“Let me show you a trick,” he said, pulling the rubbish bin out from under the sink. He upturned the bag over the bin and gave it a few good shakes. All of the kernels fell out of the bag into the bin.   
  
“What?! That was awesome,” Erin said in awe as he turned the bag around and filled the bowl with the popcorn. Greg chuckled as he handed Erin the bowl.   
  
“Time to turn the noise level down. We’ll be heading to bed soon. Shut the door to the room you’re in when you get back up,” He said, putting the bin back under the sink.

“Will do. Thanks!” Erin replied, shoveling a few still warm pieces of popcorn into her mouth.

 

Back upstairs, Abby had finally chosen a movie and was waiting for Erin to return. Erin shut the door behind her before setting the popcorn down in front of the air mattresses.

“I think we’re taking the air out of these already,” Erin laughed as she lay down on hers.

“Yeah just a little bit,” Abby giggled back as she pushed the video in. The opening screen to grease started playing as she snuggled under her blankets.

 

They were halfway through both the movie and popcorn when Abby fell asleep. Erin felt her eyes growing heavier herself. The last thing Erin remembered was the kids doing the Hand Jive, and she fell asleep with her face in the popcorn bowl.


	9. When We First Kissed

“Erin?” a groggy voice came from beside her.

“Huh?” Erin moaned as she lifted her face up, popcorn sticking to her face and hair. She heard giggles as she opened her eyes to see Abby sitting up on the very deflated mattress next to her.

 

“You slept in the popcorn bowl,” Abby informed her, crawling over to help her clean off her face. A few moments later, Erins face and hair were popcorn free.

 

Abby and Erin were barely inches apart after taking the popcorn off Erin’s face. Abby hadn’t put her glasses on, so was leaning in quite close to see what she was doing. Erin felt her heart begin to race at how close they were. Abby looked… like she wanted to do something - kiss her maybe? But she pulled back after a moment. Erin took in her surroundings and noticed she’d also slept entirely on the floor, which accounted for her sore body and stiff neck. Abby slipped her glasses on her face before she slipped out of the room, which Erin assumed was to get dressed.

 

Erin let out a yawn as she stretched, trying to wake up her muscles and work out some of the kinks her body had picked up from sleeping on the floor. She crawled over to her bag and pulled out the clothes her mom had helped her pack. Still yawning, she slipped off her pajama shirt and rifled around for her bra.

 

“Uh,” Erin heard from behind her. She whipped around and saw Abby staring from the doorway wearing clean pants, but still her pajama shirt. Erin grabbed the nearest clothing item and hid her chest, feeling her cheeks warm up. “Sorry, forgot my bra,” Abby said awkwardly, stepping in to pick it up off the floor, her cheeks also turning red. She snagged the bra on the second try and turned towards the door before hightailing it out of the room, shutting the door quickly behind her.

 

After the awkward incident, Erin was fully wide awake. She dressed quickly, packing up her pajamas, and yesterdays clothes into her bag. As she zipped up the bag, she heard a soft knock on the door.

 

“Are you decent?” Abby called out meekly.

 

“Yeah, you can come in,” Erin replied.

 

“I am so sorry about before. I should’ve shut the door in the first place,” Abby started, talking fast as her cheeks turned pink.

 

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t even think of the door,” Erin reassured her.

 

The scent of pancakes and bacon wafted up the stairs as Erin and Abby worked together to clean up the room. They took the rest of the air out of both mattresses and rolled them up to put back in their bags. Abby’s mom had brought in a rubbish bag at Abby’s request for them.

 

“Maybe you two might want to put on a movie for while you’re cleaning. Make it more fun,” She’d suggested. Abby slipped in _Mary Poppins_ into the video slot, then grabbed the bag from the floor.

 

As they cleaned, Abby sang along to the video. After the second song, Erin joined in with her, feeling comfortable with her again, after the awkward morning. Abby had just tied the bag shut when Greg came in with two plates with two fried eggs, a serve of bacon, two pancakes, and two sausages. He had them on a serving tray along with butter, maple syrup, and two glasses of orange juice.

 

“Enjoy,” He said, placing the tray on the ground in front of the TV. He took the rubbish bag from Abby before heading back downstairs.

 

“I’m going to wash my hands first,” Erin announced, looking down at her hands that felt grubbier than they looked.

 

“Me too,” Abby answered, letting Erin leave the room first. In the bathroom, they took a sink each to wash their hands.

 

“I still say two sinks is rather excessive for one bathroom,” Erin proclaimed, as she lathered the soap on her hands.

 

“I like that you’re saying that while taking in the benefits of two sinks in one bathroom,” Abby laughed as she rinsed off the soap from her hands.

 

“Aside from right now, when would you ever _need_ this many sinks?!” Erin interjected.

 

“Obviously when you have two people needing to wash their hands, brush their teeth, shave, wash their faces, the list goes on.”

 

“Okay but aside from hand washing, all of those things can be done between one sink. You shouldn’t leave the water running when brushing teeth, and most of the time the brush is in your mouth.”

 

“I wouldn’t share my dirty shaving water with you,” Abby laughed as she dried off her hands.

 

“Oh shut up,” Erin scoffed as she dried off her own with the same towel Abby used.

 

“Gross.”

 

The duet continued to sing along to Mary Poppins in between bites of breakfast. Abby was the kind of person who drowned her entire breakfast in syrup, while Erin preferred a respectable amount over just the pancakes.

 

“That is disgusting,”

 

“Don’t knock it till you try it,” Abby answered nonchalantly. Erin watched Abby eat her breakfast and decided she was content with her amount of maple syrup. “Chicken,” Abby muttered under her breath.

 

*          *          *

 

After breakfast, Abby lead Erin to her backyard. Or personal forest, as Erin called it glancing out at the neverending sea of trees.

“No one owns this much land,” Erin snorted as Abby was rifling through a shed nearby.

 

“We do,” Abby shouted over her shuffling. “Ah. Here it is.” Abby had pulled out a bunch of hoop looking things, a couple balls, and some weird hammer things.

 

“What is all of this?” Erin asked hesitantly as Abby began pushing the hoop things into the ground.

 

“Croquet! Haven’t you played before?” Abby looked up innocently at Erin.

 

“Isn’t that what old rich people play?” Erin giggled. Abby’s cheeks flushed as she realized just how different her life was compared to Erin’s.

 

“Well today we’re old rich people,” Abby retorted, trying to cover up her embarrassment. She shoved a red striped mallet at Erin, with a matching red ball.

 

“You’re gonna have to teach me how to play,” Erin said as she realized Abby was letting her go first.

 

“Is that so?” Abby replied fake-mockingly. She’d decided to let Erin go first to get back at her for teasing her. Abby set down her blue ball and got ready to hit it. “It’s really simple. You just have to get your ball through all the hoops. I think. It’s been years since I last played. But that’s all I ever tried to do.”

 

The girls took turns hitting their balls, trying really hard to get them through the hoops.

“This is like intense golf,” Erin laughed as her ball went flying off away from the hoop she’d been trying to get it through. It had hit the side of the hoop before taking a detour off near the trees. Abby laughed as her ball expertly went through another hoop. “You’re way too good at this!” Erin called out from the tree line. She whacked her ball hard back towards the playng area, misjudging how much power she had in her swing. The ball went flying, and bounced off the side of the house just below a window. Erin raced over to Abby looking horrified.

  
“That was lucky,” Abby said before bursting out laughing. Erin looked at the window she’d just managed to avoid smashing. Greg was peering out of it at the girls, before turning back to whatever he’d been doing.

 

*          *          *

 

For lunch, Abbys mom had made the girls fresh sandwiches with chicken, mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes. Erin couldn’t remember a time she’d had a sandwich taste _this_ fresh. Abby scarfed down two sandwiches, while Erin savored the taste of three. As Erin finished up the third, Abby stared at her friend, who seemed to be having an erotic moment with her sandwich.

 

“You all good?” Abby asked concerned.

 

“This tastes so good,” Erin moaned as she licked the mayo that had dribbled onto her fingers.

 

“You sound like someone who’s never eaten a sandwich before,” Abby chuckled.

 

“Not one this delicious,” Erin retorted, staring at Abby.

 

The girls stared at each other, not quite sure why.

 

A honk from outside ended their staring war.

 

“That’s probably my mom,” Erin started, feeling disappointed their sleepover was over.

 

“Let me walk you out,” Abby got up and headed upstairs to grab Erins bags for her. At the door, Erin stared awkwardly at Abby once more. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she felt like she wanted to feel Abby’s lips against hers. As Abby held out her bags for her to take, Erin grabbed Abby’s face and pulled Abby towards her. She pressed her lips against Abby’s, before letting go and staring at her best friend.

 

“Wa – what was that for?” Abby stuttered, her cheeks flaring up.

 

“I don’t know,” Erin replied, her own cheeks turning red. She grabbed her things from Abby and left the house without another word. Abby watched as Erin got in the car, keeping her head down the whole time. She could still feel Erin’s lips on hers, and she was starting to like the feeling of it.


	10. When Things Went Sideways

“How was the sleepover?” Erins mom asked as she sped out of Abby’s driveway.

“Oh it was good. We watched a lot of movies, and Abby taught me how to play croquet this morning,” Erin gushed, looking out the window.

“Oooh fun! When do you think you’ll have a sleepover again?”

“No idea. Would she be allowed to stay at our place sometime? It’s closer to school, so it would be a quicker trip home,” Erin turned to face her mom as she asked.

“Sure sweetie. Let me know when so I can clean up the guest bedroom for her,” Erin’s mom smiled brightly at her.

“Would we be able to share a room? That’s what we did last night. Made it easier to talk and watch movies,” Erin half-smiled at her mom.

“How about we set up sleeping bags in the living room downstairs. That way your father gets a good night sleep for work on the Saturday, and you two can giggle and talk all night long,” she compromised, giving Erin a warm smile.

“Sounds good,” Erin replied, turning to stare out the window again.

 

During the drive home, Erin kept replaying the kiss, over and over again. Why _had_ she kissed Abby? What had drawn her to do it? Would they still be friends after this? Had Erin totally destroyed their friendship? What did the kiss mean anyway? Was Erin interested in Abby? She couldn’t _possibly_ be gay – it was unchristianlike.

 

As they pulled up their driveway, Erin stared at her mom.

“Mom? Does God hate gay people?” She asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know, sweetie. The bible says being gay is a sin, but that doesn’t mean God hates them. I’d say God loves them just as much as everyone else, but they have to repent for their sins, including lying with a person of the same sex. Why do you ask?” Erin’s mom answered after giving it some thought.

“Abby mentioned one of her relatives is gay, so I was just wondering,” Erin replied. She smiled at her mom before getting out of the car. Her mom didn’t move as she pulled her overnight bag and schoolbag out of the trunk. When Erin slammed the trunk shut, her mom slipped out of the car, heading towards the door. She paused when she reached the door, the key hovering over the lock.

“The Principal called last night,” Erin’s mom started. “He said the kids at school have been calling you and Abby lesbians. You don’t think you have romantic feelings for her, do you?” She turned to look at her daughter.

“I… I- I don’t know,” Erin whispered. She’d never lied to her mother before, so she certainly wasn’t going to start now. And truth be told, she had no idea how she felt.

“I still love you no matter what, okay? And God does too. Lying with her may be a sin, but loving her certainly isn’t,” Her mom said, pulling Erin into a tight embrace. Even though she was unsure of her feelings, she felt comfort in knowing that her mom supported her.

 

***

All of Sunday, Erin worked hard to finish all of her homework. She had a lab report due on Monday for her physics class, as well as homework problems for her maths class. Once that was all finished, she realized her English essay needed to be started, and a first draft handed in on the Monday too. She glanced at her clock and noticed it was already 6pm. She’d worked solidly all day on her homework, she might as well take a short break. Dinner would be ready soon too.

 

Erin trudged downstairs to where her mom was slaving over the oven.   
“Whats for dinner?” Erin asked, leaning up against the breakfast counter.

“Spaghetti. Your father is late home today. Said he got held up at the office again. No idea why they need him on a Sunday, but he pays the bills. Should be ready in 10 minutes,” Her mom replied, stirring the noodles.

“Is it okay if I call Abby?” Erin asked, heading over towards the phone on the wall.

“It’s fine, but if they’re having dinner, you will call her back later, or see her tomorrow,” Her mother answered, giving her a stern look.

“Will do,” she replied, taking the phone off the hook.

 

“Hello?” Erin heard from the other line after the third ring. It was a female voice, but it was hard to tell if it was Abby or her mom.

“Hi, it’s Erin. Is Abby there?”

“Oh. She’s actually out for the night,” Erin deduced it was her mom. “On a date. I thought she’d told you. I’ll let her know you called.” _A date???_

“Oh. No she hadn’t mentioned it. Thanks,” Erin tried to sound positive, and not crushed. Abby was her best friend. Why hadn’t she mentioned a date?

 

Erin hung up the phone and tried to sneak by her mom and back up to her room.

“Hon, could you set the table please?” Erin’s mom called out. So much for sneaking by without being noticed.   
“Sure thing, mom,” Erin replied, attempting to mask the disappointment in her voice.

“Dinner time?” She asked, putting placemats around the table.

“No, she’s out,” Erin replied, laying the cutlery on the placemats.

“Ah.” Erin put plates at each spot before sliding into her usual spot. “Spaghetti is almost done!” Erin’s mom announced while placing a salad bowl on the table. “Could you go get your father?” She asked before heading back into the kitchen.

 

***

The next morning, Erin slowly got ready for school. The last thing she wanted to do was see Abby. What would she have to tell Erin about this date? After getting dressed, Erin went downstairs to the kitchen. She got a surprise seeing her mom still at the table.

“Won’t you be late for work?” Erin asked, as she pulled the orange juice out of the fridge.

“Not today. They don’t need me until lunch. Want me to drop you off this morning?” She asked, not looking up from the paper.

“Yeah sure,” Erin replied, secretly overjoyed at the prospect of putting off seeing Abby for a bit longer.

 

After she got inside the school, she was cornered by the Principal.

“Morning, Erin. I understand you have a busy morning with maths and science, but I have a little prospect for you that you might be interested in. I have some friends here from the Yale physics department, and I may have been peeking through your files to see you have outstanding grades in physics. Perhaps you’d like to meet with them and spend some time discussing physics with them. I promise you wont get in trouble for missing class, and I’ll have your teachers put aside homework for you to catch up on,” He explained, making sure none of the other students were around. It was almost like the universe didn’t want Erin to make this confrontation with Abby, and in no way was she going to miss out on an opportunity to meet with the Yale physics department. It was her dream to get into Yale for physics, so this would be the best way to get her foot in the door.

“I’d love that!” Erin replied.

 

The Principal led her away from the side of the school she usually had her morning classes, towards the rarely used Physics lab. There had been a chemistry lab taken in there once a few years back, and a student had intentionally set a bench on fire, leading to the lab being closed. Every now and again a few lucky senior students were allowed in to do research for their physics classes, but that was only the students looking to get into physics at university.

 

Inside the lab were three men and a woman. She didn’t recognize any of them, but right away knew that they were people she wanted to impress. The Principal knocked on the door and led Erin into the room.

“This was the student I was telling you about, Erin Gilbert. She has near perfect grades in both maths and physics, and I think she’d be a delight for you all to get to know and spend the morning, and possibly even the day with. You’re free to use the facilities for experiments, but please, do not burn down a bench in here. We’ve already lost one. Erin this is Andrew Geller, George Jefferson, John Stevens, and Margaret Bishop,” He introduced everyone, before leaving Erin with the physicists.


	11. When I Told You My Story

“Oh, you are at school today,” Erin heard as she was grabbing out a notepad from her locker. She turned around to face Abby.

  
“Uh yeah. Mr. Anderson pulled me aside this morning to meet with people from the Yale physics department. I’ll be with them for the rest of the day,” Erin explained, unsure of how to bring up the burning topic of Abby’s date.

 

“Oh. Okay. Cool! What are they like?” Abby asked.

 

“They’re amazing. Really great researchers, and really knowledgeable about their physics. It’s amazing spending this time with them,” Erin gushed, a smile tugging at her lips.

 

“Well at least you’re having a good time. Mom said you called last night. I was going to call back, but it was pretty late when I got home. What did you want to talk about?” Abby asked innocently.

 

“Oh it was nothing. Just wanted to talk. She said you were on a date?” Erin replied, trying to mask the hurt in her voice.

 

“She wishes it was a date,” Abby muttered under her breath. “She set me up with this boy that’s the son of a lady she works with. He was a total drip. If you’re free after school, I can tell you _all_ about it. All the horrifying details. He was so awful.” Hearing Abby talk so negatively about her ‘date’ put Erin at ease. She still had a chance.

 

Wait, a chance at what? Why did she need a chance?

 

“Yeah I should be free. Meet on the steps?”

 

“See you then,” Abby gave Erin a smile, before squeezing her arm and heading off to the cafeteria.

 

As Erin walked back towards the lab, she thought long and hard about how she felt about Abby. What was this that she was feeling? Did she actually _love_ her best friend? Was that possible? She thought about Abby and how she looked, how she talked, how her voice rang out like little bells when she laughed. How her nose scrunched up when the sun got in her eyes. How beautiful her big blue eyes were, hidden behind her glasses. Erin hesitated at the door, her hand hovering over the handle.

 

“I think I love Abby,” She whispered, her books slipping from her hands.

 

“Are you okay?” Margaret asked, helping Erin pick up her dropped books.  


“Yeah, fine, just let go for a second,” Erin felt her cheeks flush.

 

“Come on in. We’ve got sandwiches to share out for lunch.”

 

The rest of Erin’s afternoon went by in a blur. When they’d gotten back to the physics, she had totally forgotten all about Abby. They laughed, worked on experiments, and shared stories of physical discoveries the Yale department had come across. When the final bell went, Erin felt disappointed. She wasn’t ready to go back to her normal classes the next day.

 

“Thanks so much for all the fun we’ve had today, Erin! We hope you consider applying to Yale. It would be great working with you,” Margaret told her, pulling her into a tight hug. Erin squeezed back.

 

“I’ll definitely be applying! I couldn’t imagine a more fun place to study at, or better people to be taught by,” Erin replied as they pulled apart. Erin hugged the others before heading out the door, waving her goodbyes.

 

Erin stopped at her locker before heading out to the steps. As she grabbed out her books, her high from all the fun that day starting wearing off as she went out to see Abby. Abby was seated halfway down the steps, sunglasses covering her eyes, staring up at the sky.

 

“You know the sunglasses only work if you’re not trying to blind yourself,” Erin pointed out as she sat down next to Abby.

 

“Oh ha ha, Erin. Maybe I want to completely destroy my already diminishing eyesight,” Abby replied with a giggle. As she turned to face Erin, she slid the sunglasses onto her head. “How were the physics department people?”

 

“Oh pretty damn fantastic! I had so much fun, and we did so much stuff. I’m definitely applying to Yale for college though. I feel like they’ll take me,” Erin gushed, smiling widely. “How about you? I want to hear all about your date stuff.”

 

Abby got up off the steps and began walking out of the school grounds.

 

“Where are you going?” Erin asked, jogging to catch up to her.

 

“Feeling like a good walk today,” Abby replied with a wide smile. “Not feeling like facing my family after that disaster.”

 

“Want to come over for the afternoon?” Erin asked falling into step with Abby.

 

“Sure, if that’s okay,” Abby gave a half hearted smile.

 

As the two girls walked slowly towards Erin’s house, Abby mulled over how to explain everything.

 

“Okay so I guess I’ll start with after you left on Saturday. Around dinner time, mom’s old friends from out of town come over with their gross son. Apparently my mom had invited them over for dinner without telling anyone. Even dad was shocked.

 

“So mom had made enough dinner for everyone, and called us all down. As soon as I sat down, I knew it was going to be trouble. Mom kept pushing their son on me. His name was Harold, and he basically embodied the name Harold. I felt like I’d offend him if I called him Harry. He behaved like he had a stick rammed so far up his butt that if he tried to bend over, he would snap.

 

“Anyway, when they introduced him to me as Harold, I expected him to talk in some fancy pants British accent for the rest of the night. I was soooooooo disappointed. But he did talk about his stamp collection and croquet for most of the evening. Then he mentioned wanting to go to the tennis courts yesterday, and my mother _so kindly_ suggested I join him. He thought it was a _splendid_ idea, and that’s how I ended up on a date with Harold Fancypants the Third,” Abby explained, straining emphasis on splendid.

 

“Your mom couldn’t seriously think you were interested in this guy, did she?” Erin asked incredulously.  

 

“I could’ve told my mom I wanted to date a mule and she would’ve said that Harold was a better catch. Once my mom has made up her mind, she can’t be swayed,” Abby groaned.

 

The girls had reached Erin’s door by this point. Erin unlocked the door and let them inside.

 

“Cookies?” She asked, heading towards the kitchen.

 

“Yeah sure,” Abby replied, taking in her surroundings. The house was much smaller than her own, but felt more homily. Erin came out of the kitchen with a plate of cookies and nudged Abby towards the stairs.

 

Abby followed Erin up the stairs to her room and took it all in. She suddenly realized why Erin had been so uncomfortable in her room. Erin’s room was so much smaller, but felt lived in, in a good way. Abby fell in love with the house, despising the money her family had and how much the squandered it on frivolous things they didn’t need.

 

As the girls munched on the cookies, Erin lying on her bed, Abby leaned up against the bed on the floor, Abby mulled over her feelings for Erin.

 

“Erin? Why did the kids at school call you Ghost Girl?” Abby asked, finally getting around to the question that had been eating away at her for weeks.

 

“Uh. Well. When I was about 10, the lady next door died. The night after she died, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw her standing at the foot of my bed. It scared the crap out of me, and I found it hard to sleep after that. When I told the kids at school the next day, they laughed and said I’d just imagined it in my drowsy state. I believed them. Until that night she was at the foot of my bed again. I chalked it up to coincidence until it kept happening every night for weeks. I’d start screaming when I saw her so my parents would come in, only for them to open the door and flick on the lights and she’d disappear. That’s when I started seeing a therapist. My parents were worried I was losing it, and the kids at school wondered if my crazy was contagious. So I’ve been bullied ever since, and my family still worry about me. She stopped visiting after about 2 months, but its still unsettling to me,” Erin explained, staring up at the ceiling. After admitting all of this, she was nervous to look at Abby. She didn’t want to lose someone else with this.

 

After several minutes of silence between the girls, Abby finally spoke up.  
“I believe you, Erin. I really do.”


	12. When We Stopped

Over the next few weeks, Erin and Abby became closer than ever. Every weekend they would stay at each other’s house, staying up till the wee hours of the morning just talking and giggling. Abby was forced into more dates which she shared all the gruesome details with Erin, who’d laugh at the boring toad’s attempt to seduce Abby. 

“He tried kissing me last night,” Abby divulged at their latest Friday night sleepover. 

“Did you let him?” Erin asked, her eyes bugging out, wanting to know more.

“I didn’t have a choice! I turned to look at him, and suddenly his sandpapery lips were on mine! It was so gross. He tried slipping his tongue in, but I forced myself to keep my mouth shut, so he ended up leaving this slobbery mess on my mouth. I really want to escape from this failing relationship,” Abby explained while Erin laughed the whole time. 

After a few moments, Erin’s laughter petered out and she turned to look at Abby who was already looking at her. 

“It wasn’t like kissing you,” Abby whispered before she leaned in to kiss Erin. This time was so different compared to the first time. This time Erin hadn’t been expecting it and was caught off guard. After a moment, Erin’s mind caught up with the situation and began kissing Abby back. She scooted closer to Abby, and placed her hand on Abby’s cheek. Abby responded by wrapping her arms around Erin’s waist, and pulling her even closer. 

A few minutes later, Abby pulled apart from Erin. 

“Now that was a kiss,” she whispered, breathing heavily. 

“What was that for?” Erin asked, repeating what Abby had said to her the first time.

“I like you, Erin. A lot. And I didn’t really think about it until you kissed me. I could tell you hadn’t thought about it either, and that you’d shocked yourself too, but it felt right and I wanted to do it again. I’ve liked people before, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. You make me feel important and like I matter. Like I can be happy. I know a lot of people don’t like it, but I like you. We can keep it a secret,” Abby explained, gently holding Erin’s face between her hands. Erin stayed silent for a while, mulling over what Abby had said and trying to sort out her own feelings.

“Abby I don’t know. I care about you, truly. But I don’t know if what I feel is romantic. I don’t know what a crush feels like. I’ve been on my own for so long that I don’t know if what I feel is confusing having a friend who cares with feeling romantically towards someone else. I don’t want to lose my best friend by taking this further. Specially if it’s not how I feel. I need you Abby, but I need you as my friend,” Erin finally replied. 

Abby slid back from Erin, clearly unsure how to take what she’d been told. 

“I need a minute,” she whispered to Erin, before getting up and shutting herself in the bathroom. Erin lay back down on her mattress and stared up at the darkened ceiling. She’d been thinking about her feelings for weeks, and still wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she cared about Abby more than she cared about how she felt. If she wasn’t sure, she didn’t want to lead Abby on and end up hurting her in the long run. But she also had a small shred of her that wanted to test the waters. 

*

Erin had fallen asleep while waiting for Abby to come out. When she awoke, it had clearly been morning for a few hours. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and glanced at the mattress next to her. Either Abby hadn’t come back out, or had woken up before Erin, as her mattress was still empty. Erin got herself up, and headed downstairs to where Abby’s parents were sitting. 

“Morning Erin,” Abby’s mom chirped. 

“Morning,” Erin replied with a yawn. Abby wasn’t anywhere downstairs, and she remembered seeing the bathroom door open on her way down. “Where’s Abby?” She poked her head back through into the kitchen where Abby’s mom was sipping on a cup of coffee at the table with the paper. 

“Oh, she headed out about an hour ago. Told me to let you know when you finally woke up. She mentioned she didn’t want to wake you,” she told Erin. 

“Oh. Okay. Do you know when she’ll be back?” 

“Probably not till late. I can drop you off home when you’re ready.”

With her heart heavy, Erin trudged back upstairs. She changed slowly, looking over at the empty mattresses. After putting her worn clothes and pajamas nicely into her bag, she stripped the mattresses and stacked them away in the large closet where they went. Since she’d been coming over frequently, she’d gotten into the habit of helping clean up after her stay. The quilts went onto the shelf next to the mattress slot, and the sheets went into the hamper for washing. The room looked much more bare, now that she was standing in there alone. For once, she felt like she’d truly lost her best friend. 

“I’m ready to go,” Erin announced, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Abby’s mom had folded up the paper already and was rinsing out her coffee mug at the sink. “The room is all cleaned up too.” 

“Alright, thank you Erin.”

The car ride back to Erin’s house was awkward - at least, that was how Erin felt. 

“If only Abby had woken you this morning, you would’ve gotten to meet Harold! He came around for a surprise lunch date. He’s just the sweetest. I’m sure you would love him,” Abby’s mom went on. She had nothing but praise for the boy who Abby herself had nothing good to say about. 

“Haha, yeah. Maybe next time,” Erin mumbled quietly, staring out the window. She couldn’t imagine Abby wanting her to meet the boy she’d been forced to date. Now though, Erin wasn’t sure Abby was feeling so forced. She felt the car ride was taking longer than usual, probably because she felt uncomfortable. When they finally pulled up at her house, Erin jumped out as quickly as possible, yelling a “Thanks!”, before racing into the house.

“Everything okay, honey?” Erin’s mom asked when she stepped out of the kitchen to see her daughter standing in front of the door looking defeated. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Erin replied, holding back tears.

“Alright, but you can talk to me about anything, okay? Let me know if you change your mind,” She answered, bringing Erin for a tight hug. Erin hugged back before heading upstairs. 

Erin busied herself for the rest of the afternoon with her homework. She didn’t dare let her mind wander to last night. If she’d lost her best friend, then so be it. She’d been honest to her, and that’s what she felt was most important. As she worked, she tried to rewire her brain back to life by herself. Clearly she was going to be back that way again. 

At dinner, Erin’s mom didn’t bring up how Erin was feeling again. She knew that something was upsetting her, but she had gotten used to not pressing her for information she wasn’t willing to give. While Erin had felt betrayed that her parents hadn’t believed her about the ghost, she didn’t resent them, as they had always respected her as a person. They gave her some privacy, and respected her wishes. Erin helped wash the dishes after dinner, and her mom pulled her into a tight hug when they were done. 

“It’ll be okay whatever it is that’s got you down. You’ve gotten through so much before; I don’t doubt for a second you’ll get through this too. I love you,” She whispered into Erin’s ear.

“Thank you, mom,” Erin whispered back. 

*

Erin dreaded going to school on Monday morning. For some reason, whenever things felt off between her and Abby, she suddenly hated school that much more. She was so used to being alone at school that she rarely dreaded going. But today felt even worse than usual. She’d let down her best friend, and while she felt as though she’d done the right thing by her, she wasn’t so sure Abby would see it that way. Abby leaving on a date without waking her felt like Abby was trying to show that she didn’t care that Erin had let her down, but was hurt at the same time. 

Abby wasn’t on the bus to school that morning and Erin knew with a sinking feeling that Abby was still upset with her. Once she arrived at school, she saw Abby laughing with the girls she’d gotten to know without Erin. So Erin quickly pushed through the crowd to her locker, doing her best to avoid Abby, and once she’d swapped out her books, she slipped into the bathroom. 

As she stared at herself in the mirror, she reminded herself that she’d survived years of school with no friends. This was no different to before, and that the hope she’d had that she’d found someone who cared about her was easily able to be pushed down and forgotten. It certainly wasn’t the first time she’d done it, and she was sure that it would happen again. 

She was one of the first into class, and she quickly set up her books for class. There were still a few minutes before class, but she busied herself taking notes from the textbook, trying to get ahead of the class. A minute or so later, Abby came in with the girls, still giggling and talking. She stopped at their desks continuing their conversation. Erin heard a few snippets as the volume of the class increased as more students came in.

“Oh I know! He was really sweet about what he got me from the buffet. I piled his plate high with the chicken. It’s his favorite!” she gushed to the girl on her right. 

“I saw you two out on the golf field later. He was so sweet how he showed you how to hold the club. I wish I could find me a Harold,” the girl replied. 

The bell rang, and Abby sat down in her usual spot next to Erin without a word to her. It was then that Erin knew for sure that she’d lost Abby entirely, and fought hard to keep her tears in. It was clear that Abby didn’t care for Erin now that she’d been rejected as a romantic partner. Erin told herself that this was for the best. She figured Abby hadn’t cared for her friendship if she was willing to give all of that up over Erin not wanting to date her. 

After class, Abby went off with the two girls to their next class as Erin slowly packed up her things. 

“Is everything okay between you and Abby?” Erin heard Mr. Lindsey ask. She was the last person left in the classroom. 

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Erin replied, hugging her books close to her chest. 

“Maybe you should reach out and try and talk to her then, because if she’s distancing herself from you, the least she could do is tell you why,” he replied, leaning against the desk.

“I don’t think I want to know. She’s the only person I’ve been friends with in years, and I seem to have messed it all up in one night. I don’t think she’d even want to talk to me anymore,” Erin explained, hovering close to the door. 

“Well if you try, you know you gave it a shot. At best, you might get to work things out and move on. At worst, you’ll never know what’s going on in her mind, but you at least reached out to her,” he said, nodding towards the door. Erin nodded back in reply, biting her lower lip. 

On her way to the next class, Erin saw Abby at her locker alone. For a moment, she hesitated before walking over to Abby. Her gut turned as she considered if she really wanted to take her teacher’s advice, but pulled herself together by the time she reached Abby.

“Have I done something to you? You’re acting real cold towards me, like I don’t exist anymore,” Erin asked, noting Abby staring at her through the mirror stuck to her locker door. 

“Do I know you?” Abby replied rather loudly for the whole hallway to hear, shutting her locker door. “No one wants to know you, lesbian.” With that, she walked off. The other kids around Erin giggled at her as she felt her heart fall to her feet. 

“If that’s how she wants to play it, so be it,” Erin muttered under her breath, before trailing after Abby towards their class.


	13. When You Hit Me

It had been 3 weeks since Erin and Abby had last spoken. Erin didn’t bother trying to talk to her, nor did Abby try talking to Erin and while Erin missed her friendship with Abby, she wasn’t about to push it back onto her.

 

Erin fell back into a routine of getting her homework done, and continuing to read through her ever-expanding library. When she wasn’t reading, she was writing down what she remembered of her encounter with the ghost of the old lady. Sometimes she’d go into the library to research ghosts, but there were limited resources. She wanted to know more, and maybe even see the old lady again. She’d wanted to do this since the first few times she had seen the lady.

 

One day while at the library, she found there were more people than usual at all the seats and desks. She eventually found a spot tucked away in a corner to work on her research.

“Excuse me. Is it alright if I sit here? Everywhere else is taken,” A guy around her age asked politely. She looked up at him and felt he seemed to be vaguely familiar.

“Yeah sure,” she answered, moving her things over so he would have room. He seemed to be looking at her inquisitorially, same as she had to him, but less subtle.

“Do you happen to know a girl named Abby?” he asked quietly. “She would’ve been new at the start of the school year.”

“Yeah, kind of. Why?” Erin replied, somewhat uncomfortably. She realized as soon as he spoke the words, this was Abby’s boyfriend.

“Oh, I’m Harry. Our parents set us up on a few dates. I think it was more to acclimatize me before we moved to town. It would’ve been great since I would’ve known someone before starting school, but Abby seems to think she’s better than me or something,” he explained, looking down at the book he’d found.

“Maybe she was getting mixed messages about the whole set up. As far as I know, she’s not interested in you romantically,” Erin offered.

“Yeah I could tell,” he chuckled, a smile forming on his lips.

“I’m Erin.”

“Nice to meet you Erin. How do you know Abby?”

“We were friends for a while when she started at school, but she doesn’t want to know me anymore,” Erin explained, trying to keep her emotions even. She didn’t want to give too much away to him.

“Yeah that sounds like something she’d do. You must’ve been who she was closest with when I met her because she went from being nice and kind, to rude and brash. It was like a total 180 of the girl I had met,” he answered.

 

For the rest of the afternoon, Erin abandoned her research, in favor of getting to know Harry better. He seemed pleased to have met someone before starting at her school the following Monday. All she knew was that she couldn’t wait to see Abby’s face when she rubbed it in her face that she’d met Harry.

*

 

“Hey Erin,” Harry’s voice called from behind her. She was organizing what books she would need first up.

“Hey Harry,” Erin replied, shutting her locker when she was content with the books she had.

“Do you have a… Mr. Daniels first up?” He asked, clearly a bit nervous.

“Yeah, sure do,” She smiled at him.

“Cool. See you in class then,” He smiled back. She watched him walk away before realizing they already had a full class. How was he meant to join in?

 

Her answer was quickly found as she entered the classroom. Abby had moved to in front of the girls she normally talked with, as well as the boys at the front talking about how one of their friends had transferred out of town because his dad had been caught cheating. If it weren’t for Harry joining their class, Erin would’ve been upset knowing Abby had moved, but as it was she slid into her seat with a small smirk on her face. She adjusted her books and pens knowing full well that Abby was staring at her. Probably trying to figure out what was so smile-worthy this morning.

 

“Well it was good to meet you. It appears the seat left in our class is at the back there,” Mr. Daniels spoke to Harry as they came in to the classroom. Harry flashed Erin a smile before making his way down to the seat next to her. Erin became acutely aware that Abby was watching him with both confusion and disgust.

“Hey Erin,” he called out.

“Hey Harry,” Erin answered.

“Told ya I’d see you in class,” Harry smirked as he sat down next to Erin.

“I wondered how we were going to fit you since we were a full class, but John leaving helps. Apparently his dad was cheating with his secretary, so they moved to a new state,” Erin whispered, filling him in on the class gossip.

 

For the entire class, Erin and Harry passed notes, while Abby kept glancing back at them angrily. She knew she’d missed out on something. Erin also knew that she would get away with not telling her for as long as Abby refused to talk to her. She didn’t know how long that would be, but she kind of hoped it would be a while.

 

Unfortunately, Erin’s hope didn’t last long. Harry had to stay behind to talk to Mr. Daniels, so Abby and her friends had the prime opportunity to corner Erin as she left.

“How do you know him?” Abby asked, anger lacing her words.

“Does it matter?” Erin replied, trying to appear calm.

“Yeah it matters. I never introduced you two. Why did you call him Harry?” She answered, sneaking a peek of the classroom.

“Because that’s how he introduced himself to me,” Erin replied, trying harder to hide her discomfort.

“You’re a liar and you know it,” Abby spat at her. A crowd had started to form around them. Clearly some students expected Abby to hit her. Erin thought she knew Abby better than to do hit her, but right then she wasn’t sure if she really did know Abby.

“Why does it matter if I’m friends with him? You always said you didn’t like him,” Erin replied, just as Harry and Mr. Daniels left the classroom.

“Move along, everyone,” Mr. Daniels sighed, shooing everyone away.

“This isn’t over,” Abby replied, punching Erin square in the nose and knocking her flat to the floor before she and her friends walked off.

“Abby! Get back here!” Mr. Daniels called out, stopping to check on Erin, but Abby wasn’t ready for her punishment. Harry came around to help Erin back up. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. She asked how I knew Harry, and apparently meeting him without her introducing us was not the right answer,” Erin replied, her right hand gently squeezing her nose to assess the damage.

“I can help her to the nurse, Mr. Daniels,” Harry offered as Erin got to her feet using Harry and Mr. Daniels’ hands.

“Are you sure? You’re still new here,” Mr. Daniels answered.

“Yeah. Erin can lead the way,” He replied, taking on some of Erin’s weight.

“Alright, I need to go see the principal about Abby anyway. Someone will probably come in to ask for your statements,” Mr. Daniels sighed, heading off towards the office.

 

Erin felt woozy and her head started pounding as they walked.

“I never thought she’d get so mad that we met. It’s not like we’re friends anymore,” Erin moaned.

“I think hitting you was more than unnecessary. I might have to talk to my parents about her when I get home,” Harry muttered.

 

*

 

Erin spent the rest of the day in the nurse’s office. The nurse was adamant that Abby hadn’t broken Erin’s nose, but the bleeding was still heavy. The principal’s assistant came in to see her after lunch time to ask about the incident. Erin reported back what she remembered being said, and that she had been cornered by Abby and her friends. Erin hadn’t instigated, and she certainly hadn’t acted in any way asking to be hit, or hitting Abby first.

 

After she left, Harry came back in to check on her.

“Abby’s going around saying you hit her, so she punched you in the face. I reckon she told the principal the same thing. I wish I could say my statement would be useful, but I did say we know each other, and I could talk for your strength of character. I’m sure Mr. Daniels did the same,” he explained.

“That would explain why the assistant kept pressing about whether I did or did not hit her first. She wouldn’t accept just ‘I did not hit her’ as an answer,” Erin replied.

“Are you still bleeding?” Harry asked.

“Not really. We’re waiting on my mom to come get me though,” Erin answered.

“I promise this will get back to Abby’s parents regardless of if she gets in trouble or not. But considering how many people she’s told you hit her first, I think you’re going to be the one getting in trouble.”

“Yeah, same. I wish it wasn’t the case, but that’s life, I guess. If I get suspended, will you bring me my homework?” Erin asked.

“Duh. I’ve been picking it up in each class today for you already,” He replied, taking his bag off to pull out the handful of homework assignments.

“Thanks,” Erin smiled, taking them from her.

“Hi sweetheart. Sorry it took so long to get here. Are you okay?” Erin heard her mom enter the room, a look of concern covering her face.   
“Yeah I’m feeling a bit better now, and I seem to have stopped bleeding. This is Harry. From the library,” Erin replied, motioning to Harry who was zipping up his bag.

“Pleasure to meet you,” He said, sticking out his hand for Erin’s mom to shake.

“Likewise, call me- Mrs. Gilbert,” She replied, shaking his hand after the barest hesitation.

“I should get back to class. Feel better soon Erin,” He nodded towards Erin before slipping out of the nurses office.


	14. When We Tried Again

 “Is there anything you want to talk about?” Erin’s mom asked her on the ride home.

“Abby is a bully and can’t stand that I met her not-really-boyfriend without her introducing us,” Erin replied, holding her head back to prevent potential bleeding.

“Is that really what this is about?” she asked her daughter incredulously.

“Yeah. Apparently that warrants physical violence, but I don’t get it. We both ended up at the same table in the library when it was really busy. We got chatting. We know each other. It’s not like we’re friends anymore anyway – I mean it’s not like I’m friends with Abby anymore,” Erin repeated. “She decided that. He’s also a lot nicer than she made him out to be,” she finished in a general complaint.

“I’m speaking to her mother about this,” Erin’s mom announced as they pulled into the driveway.

“Go for it. Probably better to call her now before Abby tells her the made-up version of the story where I apparently hit her first,” Erin replied, getting out of the car.

 

Erin’s mom gave her a bag of frozen peas to keep over her nose. She lay down on the couch staring at the ceiling while listening to her mom chat with Abby’s mom. Erin’s mom seemed to have caught Abby’s mom in enough time to have a good chat. She was listening to what Erin’s mom had to say about the events, and clearly was Not Happy with her daughter. It seemed like she believed Erin’s side of the story.

 

“She said she would talk with Abby when she gets home and hear what she has to say. She’ll call back later to talk more about it, but I think we did a good job telling her first before Abby could get her made-up story in, as you said.” Erin’s mom sighed. “But, chances are you’re going to be suspended. I know your classmates well enough to know they’ll take her side in this made-up story. But hopefully, Abby will get in trouble with her parents. That’s the main thing here. We’ll make sure you keep up to date at home,” Erin’s mom flopped into the armchair next to the couch.

“Thanks for talking to her,” Erin replied. It meant a lot to her that her mom cared and believed her.

“I’ll always believe you, sweetheart. And I don’t agree with kids getting away with bullying,” Her mom answered her, turning on the TV.

 

*

 

As predicted, Erin got suspended for ‘fighting’. On the other hand, Erin’s mom got a call back from Abby’s mom later saying she’d heard what Abby had to say - and that she _had_ noticed her daughter acting weirder than usual. She ended up grounding Abby for two weeks – the same length of time Erin was suspended for.

 

Harry came to drop off Erin’s homework each day, and usually stuck around to help her with it. Erin’s mom was pleased to see someone genuinely enjoy coming to see her daughter. It was like Abby visiting before all of this started happening. He also kindly turned in her completed homework for her.

 

“Abby stopped talking to anyone at school. Guess your mom managed to get the truth to her mom before she could do anything,” Harry told her one afternoon.

“She got grounded. Apparently her mom picked up on the weird behavior, so didn’t want to believe her. Plus, her mom knows me. I cried when a fly wouldn’t leave me alone, and I refused to kill it!” Erin said.

“Probably for the best. The girls she’s been hanging around are nightmares. My parents know their parents from the country club, and all their parents do is gloat about how spoiled their little demons are,” Harry continued. “I think my mom wanted me to get to know Abby because her parents have always talked about her achievements and all the good she’s done. I think these girls are ruining her for the worst.”

“Yeah, those girls have bullied me too. I wonder what she sees in them. I feel like she’s just trying to be friends with the people that benefit her the most or something. I’m not sure what benefit she gets from them though,” Erin pondered.

 

Harry went home a little after four. Erin went into the kitchen to help start making dinner with her mom. She’d gotten used to helping more around the house, since she spent most of her time between the house and the library. Just as she finished peeling the potatoes, there was a hesitant sounding knock on the front door.

“I’ll get it,” Erin told her mom before rinsing off her hands. She opened the door to find Abby standing there; alone.

“Who is it, sweetie?” Erin’s mom called out. Erin looked back and gave a hopefully knowing glance at her mom before stepping outside, shutting the door behind her.

 

Erin crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at Abby. She wasn’t sure what she wanted, and she wasn’t about to ask. She wasn’t sure if she should feel intimidated, scared, or concerned.

“I’m…” Abby started, before letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. For everything. I shouldn’t have lied about hitting you- I mean, I shouldn’t have hit you in the first place.” Abby clearly couldn’t bring herself to look Erin in the eye. “I shouldn’t have gotten upset about you knowing Harry, it’s none of my business really, and it’s not like I control you or him, I knew he was moving here, so it shouldn’t surprise me that you two would’ve met eventually, with or without me, I mean I think what really surprised me though is that you both get along, probably because I never gave him much of a chance to get to know and Mom talked to me about him and I think she was either talking to your mom on the phone or his, but I got grounded, and a stern talking to about my friends, and him, and I really shouldn’t be here right now, but I’ve had a lot of time to just sit and think, and I miss you, and I totally let my feelings get in the way of our friendship, and I let the anger that followed consume me, and, it’s like, I wanted to be perfect for the wrong people, so I pushed away people who cared about me and I even took Harry’s friendship as something more - I mean he did kiss me that one time, but I think he did that because he thought I wanted that, and basically that was miscommunication or something and we talked about it at school today and -I’m babbling, aren’t I?”

 

Erin stared at Abby, unsure of what to make of anything.

“Abby, I –” Erin started, before a car pulled up into the driveway. The girls both looked over, only to see Abby’s mom hopping out of the driver’s side door, and stormed up to Abby.

“Abigail, I am thoroughly disappointed in you! I’ve been waiting at the school for you to come out! How dare you disobey your grounding!” Abby’s mom spoke almost in a calm manner, but with anger lacing each word. She grabbed onto Abby’s arm and went to pull her away when Erin’s mom opened the front door.

“Mrs. Yates! How nice of you and Abby to stop by! Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee? I’m sure the girls have so much to catch up on!” Erin’s mom exclaimed, reaching her hand out to lead Abby’s mom inside.

“No, you know that Abby is grounded. She snuck over here without my permission, and I need to take her home immediately,” Abby’s mom stated, trying to reclaim the upper hand.

“Just 5 minutes, please,” Erin pleaded. She may not get another chance to talk to Abby again if she let them go. Abby’s mom stared at her for a moment.

“…okay Erin, just because you asked. But once those 5 minutes are up, we’re leaving,” she declared, letting Erin’s mom drag her inside.

 

“I guess I owe you and your mom for that. I’m dead when we leave though,” Abby said once the door closed behind the two moms.

“Abby, I don’t know if I can trust you. How do I know you’re not going to run off to those friends the moment our friendship gets knocked sideways a bit again? I know we’re all struggling with our own battles of life and all that, but… I have no one to run off to. Every time you run off, I’m left alone. I mean, now I kind of do have Harry, but if he’s going to get in the way of us being friends, then I don’t know what I’ll end up having to do,” Erin explained. She felt, well, scared of letting Abby back in, if it was going to keep ending the same way each time.

“That’s fair. Can I try and earn your trust back? I don’t want to be friends with them anymore. They’re not fun, and I don’t think they like me very much anyway,” Abby asked, her hands wringing together.

“I guess so. But this is your only chance. I’m not a doormat, and I won’t let you walk all over me,” Erin replied, turning to head back inside.

“Thank you. You wont regret it,” Abby smiled widely. The girls stood awkwardly facing each other for a moment.

“…Hey are you and Harry like a… thing?” Abby asked, like they hadn’t just had the most massive of awkward pauses. Erin’s face began to turn red, so she turned to go inside.

“What?! No! We’re just friends! We are definitely not interested in each other like that,” Erin exclaimed, definitely not looking at Abby. “You’re as bad as my mom.”

“I am not! I was just asking!” Abby defended.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner? We have plenty,” Erin’s mom asked as Abby and her mom were heading out to leave.

“No, this one has had more than enough excitement for one day. I’m sure her father has cooked us something lovely for dinner, and I’d hate to upset his plans. Thank you for the offer though. I’m sure what you’ve got will be just as delicious,” Abby’s mom replied as Erin waved to Abby sitting in her car.

“Alright. Wish him my best for me,” Erin’s mom replied, giving Abby’s mom’s hand a squeeze. Her and Erin waved at the two in the car as they pulled out of their driveway.

“Everything all sorted between you two?” Erin’s mom asked, rubbing gently on Erin’s back.

“Yeah, I think so,” Erin replied, still staring out the window.

“You’re both young, and you’re going to go through many tough times with friends, possibly each other. Learning to deal with it is going to make you a stronger person. Stand your ground, lay out your rules, and follow hers without going against your own, or your morals. I’m sure this wasn’t the first, nor will it be the last time you have something come between you two. And for the love of god, do not let a boy come between you. It’s not pretty watching two girls fight over the same guy,” Erin’s mom told her, pulling Erin into a tight hug.

“If you mean Harry, he won’t. I’m not interested in him like that, and I don’t think they’re interested in each other. We’re all just friends. And if they want to be more, I’m happy to support them,” Erin explained.

“That’s my girl,” Erin’s mom whispered, letting Erin go. “Can you set the table, please? I’m sure your father isn’t too far away.” Erin groaned, before heading into the dining room. Her mom had a knack for finishing sentimental moments with mundane chores.


End file.
